Proposal: Tiered 5* Basic Crystal System

Introduction

As the basic pool of 5* champs continues to balloon, each new batch of champs added diminishes the likelihood a player will pull the champs they most desire. And with the new featured 5* crystal format -- which includes 24 curated champs, among them them six new champs -- players still have only a flat 4.16% chance to pull their desired champ.

The issue with a system that subverts any way for its player base to target their desired champs (excluding featured Grandmaster crystals, which of course cost a lot of money -- approximately $10 worth of units per crystal) is that it creates a massive discrepancy in rng (random number-generator; aka “luck”) among its player base, which leads to widely uneven roster evolution.

For example, Player A could get incredibly lucky and pull Stark Spider-Man, Blade, and Ghost Rider with his first three basic 5* crystals; while Player B could pull Spider-Gwen, Iron Patriot, and Colossus with hers. If we assume both players in this scenario worked equally as hard -- completed the same content in the same amount of time with the same amount of items -- to get the (same amount of) 5* shards needed to open the crystals from which they pulled these champions, then Player B has been given a massive obstacle that Player A wasn’t simply because of luck. While I believe that luck needs to play some role in the crystals to avoid everyone having the same champions (roster redundancy), I also believe that players should have considerably more influence on the champions they pull.

My proposed solution is a…

tiered 5* crystal system

All the basic champs are separated into one of five tiers based on supposed overall usefulness; each tier has its own basic 5* crystal; and each crystal has its own shards cost. These crystals would still produce a champ randomly, but the pool for each would be considerably smaller, making it easier for players to target which champs (or which level of “usefulness”) they want.

The term “God Tier” has wiggled its way into the MCOC community lexicon by now, but of course Kabam couldn’t put such a brazen label on its champs (imagine a “**** Tier” crystal, lol!). So instead, the tiers could simply be numerical. The cost of each tier would have a large enough variance that players would have a considerable decision to make -- do they want to go the “cheapest” route and collect as many champs as they can, perhaps for arena use; or would they rather pay a huge sum of shards (and be required to wait longer between opening crystals in order to save enough shards) for a more useful champ?

Tier 5 (least “useful”)
Cost: 7.5k shards
Champs: Colossus, Iron Fist, Iron Man, Iron Patriot, Hulkbuster, Gambit, Cyclops (Blue), Captain America, Spider-Gwen, Daredevil (Netflix), Groot, She-Hulk, Falcon, Howard the Duck

Tier 4
Cost: 10k shards
Champs: Cyclops (Red), Storm, Magneto, Winter Soldier, Black Panther, Moon Knight, Rhino, Spider-Man (Classic), Ant-Man Yellowjacket, Juggernaut, Captain Marvel, Drax, Ronan, Superior Iron Man, Black Panther (Civil War), Hulk, Venompool, Loki, Spider-Man (Symbiote), Rocket Raccoon, Venom, Thor (Jane Foster), Spider-Man (Miles), Old Man Logan, Kamala Khan, Civil Warrior, Beast, Karnak, Phoenix, Cable, Hood, Psylocke, Angela, King Groot, Carnage, Vulture, Sentry

Tier 3
Cost: 15k shards
Champs: Hawkeye, Guillotine, Mordo, Ultron, Elektra, Luke Cage, X23, Red Hulk, Agent Venom, Crossbones, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Dormammu, Nebula, Yondu, Punisher 2099, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Kingpin, Thor (Ragnarok), Hela, Taskmaster, Bishop, Masacre (when added)

Tier 2
Cost: 20k shards
Champs: Magik, Star-Lord, Quake, Doctor Voodoo, Hyperion, Gwenpool, Archangel, Iceman, Mephisto, Morningstar, MODOK, Hulk (Ragnarok), Killmonger, Sentinel, Sabretooth, Proxima Midnight, Captain America (Infinity War) (when added), Wasp (when added), Ghost (when added)

Tier 1 (most “useful”)
Cost: 30k shards
Champs: Ghost Rider, Spider-Man (Stark), Medusa, Blade, Void, Corvus Glaive, Iron Man (Infinity War) (when added), Domino (when added)

Why this is unlikely…

Featured Grandmaster crystal sales would dip, perhaps significantly.

Comments

Duke_Silver

There are a few problematic tier placements. Hood, Angela and Psylocke definitely deserve to be in higher tiers to list some. As a replacement to the current basic crystal, it would be terrible but as a side crystal, an argument could be made for it’s worth. However this system seems geared more towards endgame players who can earn 5* much faster than intermediate players. Interesting idea.

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Jh_Dez

Haji_Saab wrote: »

All champs are at equal standing in the eyes of the devs (or at least that's what their stance is)

Then they know nothing

Demonzfyre

This would never happen and I for one would not spend 30k on a crystal. Horrible idea.
Kabam would never do this as they won't ever confirm champ "tiers" which are decided by the community.

Mitchell35

And I’d hate to only be able to have a god tier for the cost of 3 crystals.... that would absolutely suck

PaytoPlay

With the ever changing meta of this game and lack of game balancing mechanism in place, new champs will counter old one and your tier 1 list will eventually become tier 5. Your tier concept is in general no different than current FGMC except weeding out the `trash` champs in FGMC and introducing even more tiers. Since kabam is all about gambling I just dunt see this happening.

luhdemtaters

Mitchell35 wrote: »

And I’d hate to only be able to have a god tier for the cost of 3 crystals.... that would absolutely suck

That's a good point that a few people have brought up to me. A possible alternative is for the basic 10k crystal to remain exactly as it is now, with every champ in it, and then for the other "tiers" to exist in supplement. So if you wanted to save 2500 shards to get an arena champ, you can. If you want to save 30k for a top-end champ, you can. If you want to pay the 10k, you risk getting a low tier champ but can still get a god, same as now.

luhdemtaters

@Demonzfyre read my response to Mitchell. Possible middle-ground to the issue you brought up, which is valid.

luhdemtaters

Duke_Silver wrote: »

There are a few problematic tier placements. Hood, Angela and Psylocke definitely deserve to be in higher tiers to list some. As a replacement to the current basic crystal, it would be terrible but as a side crystal, an argument could be made for it’s worth. However this system seems geared more towards endgame players who can earn 5* much faster than intermediate players. Interesting idea.

Yeah, I just threw the tiers together for the post. It's mostly illustrative, not my concrete "suggestions."

HerrPopop

How the hell did you even get this idea..

Panchulon21

I think a good way of combating this is the way they did the dungeon crystals.

3 different basic crystals every week. Same cost, but only 10-15 champs selected by the developers. So then you have the choice of which one you want to pull that week. You can only pull that specific crystal once every month and they can rotate them every week. Something in that area

Demonzfyre

luhdemtaters wrote: »

@Demonzfyre read my response to Mitchell. Possible middle-ground to the issue you brought up, which is valid.

Again, they won't do this as it would "confirm" levels or tiers of champs. Kabam won't do it as they said in the past. They view each champ as the same level but they won't ever separate them into tiers.
Imagine if they confirm KK or Colossus as "trash" the community would have a field day asking why they made trash champs etc...

luhdemtaters

HerrPopop wrote: »

How the hell did you even get this idea..

I keep getting pooped on with my crystals, lol. I've thought to myself, "God, I'd pay 30k shards for a good chance at a great champ."

luhdemtaters

Panchulon21 wrote: »

I think a good way of combating this is the way they did the dungeon crystals.

3 different basic crystals every week. Same cost, but only 10-15 champs selected by the developers. So then you have the choice of which one you want to pull that week. You can only pull that specific crystal once every month and they can rotate them every week. Something in that area

I liked the dungeon crystals concept, too, but limiting them to one try is ridiculous. Plus the rng variance was still way too big, in my opinion. It's simply not fair that one player opens the same crystal as another player, and one gets a terrible champ, the other gets a great champ. If that was eventually "evened out" somehow by a mercy rule or something, fine, but it can snowball, where some accounts continuously pull terrible champs and literally can't progress in the game. Every player should have relatively the same opportunity to progress.

King_L0kiB34r

I think with a little tweaking this is a solid idea. While I too wouldn't spend 30k shards for a champ I would be ok with higher chances and 20k. I think there should be a 5k with everything in it if you really want to try your luck. lol

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Addyos

This will increase the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. Those at the top echelon of alliances usually accumulate more 5* shards through wars, buying of offers etc. It will be easier for them to garner the 30k shards and get the 'God' tier champs they desire, at a faster pace than those in the lower tiers. The gap is already getting larger with AW seasons and new AQ rewards; implementing this feature will widen it more.

Sorry but I respectfully don't agree to this idea. Love the YT channel though. Keep up the great war videos.

luhdemtaters

King_L0kiB34r wrote: »

I think with a little tweaking this is a solid idea. While I too wouldn't spend 30k shards for a champ I would be ok with higher chances and 20k. I think there should be a 5k with everything in it if you really want to try your luck. lol

Yeah, someone suggested keeping the 10k the same as now, which would definitely make it harder to justify saving 30k for a guaranteed top champ when you'd still have (really small) odds to pull a top champ from the 10k.

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luhdemtaters

Addyos wrote: »

This will increase the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. Those at the top echelon of alliances usually accumulate more 5* shards through wars, buying of offers etc. It will be easier for them to garner the 30k shards and get the 'God' tier champs they desire, at a faster pace than those in the lower tiers. The gap is already getting larger with AW seasons and new AQ rewards; implementing this feature will widen it more.

Sorry but I respectfully don't agree to this idea. Love the YT channel though. Keep up the great war videos.

That's a good point; the cost gap would probably have to be higher to make this remotely plausible. And thanks, mate! I've got a ton on backlog, need to find some time to finish them and get them uploaded, lol.